The second round of the Dutch National was held at the HFCC Racing Club in Hague. This track contains an oval with infield. After last year's National the track was resurfaced and the accommodation was upgraded so the host club was proud to show off their new facility. There were some concerns since new asphalt typically does not provide lots of grip, and in the weeks prior to the event the level of grip was very low. On Saturday our team was there to do some practice and testing, and after that we found a very reasonable set-up to start with.
The race day started dry and after the first round I was in 3rd place in Stock class, Hugo was on TQ spot in Modified, and Patrick also did very well; off to a great start!
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After the first round it started drizzling a bit and just before the fifth heat it started raining. The new asphalt is very good and it dried in only 20 minutes! With the second round cancelled and the track at its best, everyone knew that round 3 was the one to qualify. I changed set-up a bit but the problem was that the car performed better than the driver. I made a stupid mistake and a small error and qualified 4th in the A-main Stock.
Hugo had an off-track experience in his run and therefore could not qualify better than 7th in the A-main; he was a little disappointed because his car was very good and fast. Patrick drove a very well controlled and careful qualifier and wound up in the A-main, too.
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In the Stock finals I was very unlucky in the starts, being hit numerous times and having to work my way up the pack again. In the first final I only managed 7th place. In the second final I was hit again at the start and after being marshalled I began the chase. For this final I made some small changes to the car and those changes worked very well. I ended up in 4th place at the finish by only 0.2sec behind the #3 car.
I had mixed feelings about the finals because I drove well and the car was good but the results were not that good. On the other hand, coming back from 10th place after a start crash and finishing 7th and 4th is not too bad.
1. Vasco Christiaanse
2. Michael Lepelaar
3. Ronald Arts
4. George Spitteler 5. Frans Heinsbroek XRAY T2'008
6. Richard Oversloot XRAY T2'008
7. Joffry Persijn 8. Erik Germeraad XRAY T2
9. Ronald Bestman 10. Marvin Langeree XRAY T2'007
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The Modified finals were won by Bart Wubben, a local driver at the HFCC Track and reigning Dutch Champion. He was the most consistent driver throughout the day. Hugo tried really hard and was definitely the fastest driver in this final but some small off-track moments prevented him from
getting a better result. He managed 5th overall. Patrick had also some very unlucky moments but improved from 10th on the grid to finish 9th overall.
Modified
1. Bart Wubben
2. Rob Jansen
3. Stefan Janssen
4. Sven van Essen 5. Hugo vd Berg XRAY T2'008
6. Rene Cornella
7. John Bruins
8. Arjen Potharst 9. Patrick Jongenelis XRAY T2'008
10. Rick Thomson
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The next National is in 3 weeks at the track from MBC de Sluis in Gouda, and there the team will try hard to get back onto the podium.
